Alexander PearnPlatform 4’s Invisible music is a compelling yet frustrating journey from start to finish. The show is an audible and visual experience that almost drowns the viewer within the chaos of sound and lights. Invisible Music aims to shed light upon the lives of those living with hearing difficulties and is comprised of real-world stories told as musical movements, with arrangements by Bellowhead’s composer and arranger Pete Flood. However, despite the flood of emotion through music to spoken word the show feels oddly disjointed, as if the separate elements cannot form a cohesive whole, with each working against one another rather than together.
Invisible Music does a marvellous job of exposing the issues for those going through hearing loss and certainly provides an impactful message to the viewer. Yet the chosen style of the show seems somewhat strange as those suffering from hearing loss lose a large portion of the storytelling, as the show chooses to merely add subtitles for the text. To add to this the visuals themselves are by the most part lacklustre and suffer in comparison to both the voice acting and the composition. They seem more of a distraction than something that pulls one into the show and when they do relate to the words the connection seems uninspired.
The performances themselves are excellent, and yet further highlight the disconnect with the visuals. The emotion delivered by the actors helps pull the viewer into the world of those without sound. They reveal the hidden difficulties and hardships faced, and through this help to reshape the way the audience can see the world.
The soundtrack is marvellous and a delight to listen to as it fills this new world with wonder. It helps break down the notion that those with hearing difficulties suffer, rather it seems an altogether different way of living with a different set of trials and tribulations.
Invisible Music is a show that asks you to make your own conclusions without providing any solutions. Despite this however, it is still well worth a watch for the enlightening experience
Invisible Music is showing from the 15th of July at Platform 4’s website.